Adaptive array thinning for space-time beamforming

Space-time array processing (STAP) is a computationally intensive task because of the large matrices involved. One method, called array thinning, for reducing this computational burden is to not process certain space and/or time taps. We propose a technique for array thinning that accounts for the interference environment and thins the array optimally. The thinned elements are constraints in the linearly constrained minimum power (LCMP) method. We also propose a greedy version of the LCMP method that produces comparable results with lower computational burden. Performance comparisons are given in terms of interference suppression and the computational burden.